How to Properly Start a Wood Burning Stove Wood stoves are an excellent method to reduce energy consumption and heat a room. They do require some maintenance. Many modern wood stoves meet EPA emission guidelines. Look for an EPA sticker under or beside the grate, to ensure that your stove doesn't create a lot of harmful pollutants. How to start a Wood Fire The scent and sound of a woodfire is an excellent addition to any home. It's crucial to learn the proper way to build a fire in your stove. Incorrect methods can result in the fire not burning effectively and can cause smoke or creosote. The tips below can help you create an efficient fire that will warm your home quickly and efficiently. Before you begin a fire, you should check the condition of your logs and coals. If they're wet they will choke your fire and prevent the proper burning. It is possible to open the chimney to get rid of any ash that has fallen into the stove. Begin by placing a handful of small, dry pieces of newspaper in your stove. This will help ignite the tinder and ignite the kindling. Once they start to burn, add a layer of larger pieces of kindling to the top of the pile. This should be done in a crosshatch fashion so that there is air between each piece of wood. If your wood stove is equipped with an automatic combustion control it will automatically pump air into the flame as it grows. This will allow the fire to burn at a steady rate without the need to open the stove's door to tend it. Avoid using too much tinder, as it can cause the fire to burn at a fast rate and not use the fuel effectively. Once you've made a solid bed in your stove of igniters, tinder, and embers, start the main flame by laying two large logs of the base on the grill. On top of these base logs lay a layer parallel to them. This top-down method of building a fireplace will produce a long-lasting, efficient fire that doesn't engulf larger logs from the base. Once the fire is established Close the damper and keep it shut. Doing this too soon can cause the fire to get smothered and not allow for the correct air flow, which can decrease the efficiency of the fire. Add Wood Stoves can be used to efficiently heat your home and also save you money. They can be used alone or in conjunction with a furnace or central heating system to provide the additional heating required in large homes or homes with multiple rooms. Many of the latest clean burning stoves that are available today utilize advanced combustion principles that can separate the burning volatile substances from combustible gasses and tar. This is done by supplying air at two distinct stages. The first stage permits the vaporization of the volatile compounds, while the second step supplies fresh air that has been pre-heated. This improves the combustion process and reduces odors. The amount of heat that you can get from a stove is contingent upon the species and the moisture content of the wood and also the dimensions of logs. To let the wood dry, logs should be kept in a ventilated location for a few months prior to burning. If the logs have too much moisture, they will create steam, which is basically wasted power. While you're burning the fire, add more wood to the stack in intervals, but not all at all at. Addition of too much wood at once can cause the temperature to rise within the firebox, creating an air vortex that draws smoke and volatile compounds that have not been burned back into flames. This could reduce the effectiveness of your stove. It is recommended to stay clear of other combustibles, such as paper or cardboard in your stove, because they are not wood and have different physical properties that cannot be burned safely without creating dangerously high temperatures and a lot of emissions. It is not recommended to burn compressed combustibles like wood briquettes as they are different in physical and chemical composition from firewood. They are also not type-approved to be used in wood burning stoves. If you are installing wood-burning stoves into your home, it's essential to have it installed and tested by a professional. A certified WETT technician will test the installation for safe operation and safety, and also ensure that your chimney is functioning properly. outdoor wood burner provide maintenance services for your stove and chimney to keep them in top condition. They can check for leaks in the areas accessible to your chimney and repair any problems they find. They will also make sure that all house occupants know and follow the fire evacuation guidelines in case in the event of an emergency. Adjusting the Damper When you're not cooking on your stove, a damper regulates the amount of heat lost through the chimney. In addition to this it can also help control the fire. If the flue is open but the damper is not closed enough, the fire will not burn as efficiently and it will release smoke into your living space. To ensure that you get the most efficient fire, with the damper properly adjusted, you have to play around with different locations and observe how each affects the flames. You should keep your damper open to allow air to enter and exit the flue while a fire is burning. This will allow the fire to begin and stay lit for many hours. The right opening can stop the fire from being deprived of air and stop it from blowing smoke. To adjust your damper correctly it is important to first make sure that the fireplace has been preheated and that the wood stove is hot. This will ensure the chimney is warm, and also that it has a good draft. Once these are done the wood stove damper can be adjusted. Once the fire has smolder for a while, you can reduce the damper to around three-quarters of its maximum. This will stop the warm air in the room from escaping into the chimney, while still permitting smoke to escape. This is the best way to ensure that your fire is lit and keep it from getting too hot. If you close the damper too tightly, it may stop the draft from working, however when it's too wide, a cold breeze could blow into your home. Holding your hand at the top of the flue pipe will show you how much the damper has sunk. If you feel a slight breeze pushing on your hand it is probably in the open position. The damper settings can differ from one stove to the next and even between different kinds of wood. You can experiment with different settings to get a sense of the most suitable setting for your stove. Clean Up After an incident, it is essential to clean the flue and stove. This will lower the risk of a chimney fire which is the main reason for wood stove-related fires in homes. Creosote, a sticky material which can build up within the stovepipe, can be very dangerous. It is caused by moisture and unburned wood particles that are unable to escape the fire. It can also be caused by improperly lit fires. Regular cleaning can help prevent creosote buildup. The best method to do this is to sweep the chimney at least once a year. It is recommended that you have your stove and fireplace professionally inspected and cleaned at least once per year as well. Also, it is an excellent idea to clean the ash tray and grates regularly. It is best to burn only seasoned wood since it will create less creosote. It is also recommended to avoid burning paper, cardboard or plastic items. These can release harmful chemicals for respiratory illnesses and the air, and could be released into your home. The glass on the wood burning stove needs to be regularly cleaned as well. A lot of modern wood stoves have self-cleaning glass, meaning that they do not require much cleaning. If you're unable to make the glass on your wood stove as clean as you'd like, there are stove glass cleaners you can use on the window. Some other helpful suggestions for maintaining your wood stove are to turn the vent off when you are not using it and slamming a window or door to increase air flow. This will keep the fire burning longer and more efficiently, since it won't need to work as hard to circulate the air. It is also a good idea not stack logs or leave them in the fire for long durations of time, since this can lead to warping and splitting. It is advised to avoid using combustible compressed wood in your wood stove since the paraffin that is contained in the wood can melt and then flow into the flue and cause damage.
outdoor wood burner
